14 April 2010 3:17 PM

2:15PM Chris Grayling might have been hidden away by the Tories during the election campaign but the row over the shadow home secretary's 'gay gaffe' came back to bite the Tories today. Labour paraded two Tory defectors who said they had left the party over its stance on gay rights.

Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, former head of the Tory leader's gay campaign, accused the Conservatives of an "elaborately executed deception" on gay policy. And she said the party as a whole had not changed in its approach to gay people, with no mention of new rights in its manifesto.

At a London news conference, David Heathcote, 38, said he had quit the party after two years' membership and joined Labour because he felt "let down". Both cited Mr Grayling's "gaffe" in asserting Christian bed and breakfast owners should be able to turn away gay couples as the trigger for their defection. MORE HERE

More than 200
campaigners outside Conservative headquarters protest last month at
remarks by shadow home secretary Chris Grayling